Fate Vs. Free Will
Whatever happened… happened.

There are some who would say what’s done… is done. You cannot change fate, no matter how hard you try. And those who challenge what is destined will always be met with disappointment. For fate has a way of charting its own course.

But before one surrenders to the hands of destiny, one might consider the power of the human spirit… and the force that lies in one’s own free will.

Fate

After the dynamite incident in “Exodus, Part 1,” John Locke asks Jack Shephard, “Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence — especially, this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason… The island brought us here. This is no ordinary place; you’ve seen that, I know you have. But the island chose you, too, Jack. It’s destiny.”

Jack retorts in a heated moment, asking if Boone’s death was destiny, and Locke says he was a sacrifice. Jack then opines: “I don’t believe in destiny,” to which Locke replies, “Yes, you do. You just don’t know it yet.”

In “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” when Desmond asks Eloise Hawking why she didn’t save the man wearing red sneakers, she explains: “Because it wouldn’t matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding, tomorrow he’d be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he’d fall in the shower and break his neck.”

Hawking continues, “The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it’s your path to go to the island. You don’t do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you’re supposed to.”
Desmond tells Ms. Hawking, “I can choose whatever I want,” however, she responds “You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing that you will ever do.”

Free Will

In Season 4′s episode, “The Variable,” Daniel Faraday explained that he was wrong about his previous view, and that people are variables in the equation that can change the outcome of events.

In Season 5′s “The Incident, Parts 1 & 2,” Jacob tells Hurley: “It’s your choice Hugo, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” As Ben Linus prepares to kill him, Jacob states: “Whatever he’s told you, I want you to understand one thing — you have a choice.”

In “The Cost of Living,” Juliet, referring to Ben’s surgery, says to Jack: “You probably feel like you don’t have a choice, but you do, Jack. Free will is all we’ve really got, right?”

THE DHARMA INITIATIVE

In Buddhism, dharma stands for the body of teaching expounded by the Buddha, and therefore the knowledge of or duty to undertake conduct set forth by the Buddha as a way to enlightenment.

In addition, it is one of the basic, minute elements from which all things are made. It also refers to the Path of the Teaching, the journey of the student that ends ultimately in the alleviation of suffering and/or the undoing of karma. Finally, it also references ultimate reality, the realization that the most fundamental element of the universe is happiness, bliss, or Nirvana.

Isn’t that the whole point of “Lost” – the journey of a cast of characters, which ultimately ends in the elevation of their suffering? We have witnessed karma, the concept that a person’s actions in the material world directly affect his future experiences, consistently throughout the show in flashbacks, flash-forwards and flash-sideways.

These actions also have consequences in the afterlife. Positive actions lead to positive experiences and outcomes; similarly, negative ones lead to undesirable results. With all this being said, surely it is impossible to correctly predict the outcome of “Lost.” Since Oceanic 815 first crashed, we have all gathered and discussed the possible answers to questions we didn’t even fully comprehend. We have assumed and theorized endlessly, with little success.

I’m not sure if there will be a clear-cut resolution – of course there will be countless mysteries and questions left unanswered — but in the end, the overall significance – the truth – will have been in front of us the entire time.

As the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama said, “It is the finger that points to the Moon.”

Truth can be likened to the Moon, bright in the sky. Truth has nothing to do with words. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location, however, the finger is not the moon. To truly look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger.

Language and words are merely symbols with which to express the truth. But to mistake words for the truth is just as laughable as to mistake the finger for the moon. A finger points at the moon, but the moon is not at the tip of the finger.

Words points at the truth, but the truth cannot be found in mere words and phrases. To seek illumination through words is to get lost in the web of words and not see the truth.

We’ve all been so caught up in symbols and questions: Who or what is the smoke monster? What is the island? Questions about four-toed statues and slave ships, hatches and lighthouses have blinded us. We’ve stopped to examine and analyze every tree, and in the process we’ve missed the forest.

I’m a firm believer that, when “Lost” has ended, there will be a collective sigh of relief – that a six-year journey has come to an end – that we, ourselves, have found our own kind of enlightenment.